Even a small highway bridge takes a lot of material to build

By Telegraph staff

As highway bridges go, the one that will carry the Broad Street Parkway over the Nashua River isn’t particularly big – nothing compared with the bridge built over the Merrimack River for the Manchester airport access road, let alone Boston’s Zakim Bridge.

But even middle-size bridges take a huge amount of material, as shown by recent work in the city’s Millyard, where just one of the many supports for the bridge requires more than 12 tons of metal inside at least as much concrete. ...
Subscribe or log in to read more&nbsp

As highway bridges go, the one that will carry the Broad Street Parkway over the Nashua River isn’t particularly big – nothing compared with the bridge built over the Merrimack River for the Manchester airport access road, let alone Boston’s Zakim Bridge.

But even middle-size bridges take a huge amount of material, as shown by recent work in the city’s Millyard, where just one of the many supports for the bridge requires more than 12 tons of metal inside at least as much concrete.

The bridge is part of work for the 1.8-mile parkway that began after a 2008 Board of Aldermen vote approving a $37.6 million bond. Adding another Nashua River crossing was a major selling point for the road, which will connect downtown and Broad Street while bypassing Main Street.

Work is underway on the northern section of the parkway, which includes building new bridges over railroad lines for Baldwin Street and Fairmount Street.

The city is preparing to issue a request for bids for the remaining contract for work in the Millyard area, where some demolition has already begun.

The limited-access, two-lane Broad Street Parkway is scheduled to open in August 2015. The latest projections put the cost of the project at close to $64.4 million.